The invention relates to transmissive displays and more particularly to backlight assemblies for use with transmissive displays.
Transmissive display systems typically function by altering properties of transmitted light to produce visual representations of images. Conventional transmissive display systems typically include a light source that illuminates a transmissive display. The transmissive display receives input signals, for example, from a video board or a display driver. The input signals define the images that are to be displayed by the display system. The transmissive display alters the light from the light source as it passes through the transmissive display to produce visual representations of the images defined by the input signals.
Light from the light source, i.e., a backlight, typically requires conditioning prior to illuminating the transmissive display. For example, the transmissive display may require light to be spatially uniform in brightness and/or color. In addition, some transmissive displays require light to be polarized. Various conventional backlight assembly arrangements have been developed for the purpose of providing adequate lighting to a transmissive display. By improving backlight assemblies, the appearance of visual representations generated by transmissive display systems can also be improved.
In general, the invention is directed toward a backlight assembly for use in a transmissive display system. The transmissive display system includes a transmissive display, such as a liquid crystal display (xe2x80x9cLCDxe2x80x9d), that is illuminated by the backlight assembly. The backlight assembly includes a light source that illuminates a light chamber. The transmissive display is positioned adjacent the light chamber so that light exiting the chamber illuminates the transmissive display. The backlight assembly may include one or more reflectors and one or more other optical elements to ensure that the light exiting the light chamber is adequately conditioned and sufficiently uniform in intensity. In other words, the optical elements are used to condition the light so that light exiting the backlight assembly has the desired illumination properties including, for example, the desired spatial uniformity, polarization, color, and angular distribution. In this manner, the backlight assembly can provide adequate lighting to a transmissive display so that the transmissive display can accurately render visual representations of images.
Additional details of various embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects and advantages will become apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.